


it's gonna get really really really really bad before it's okay

by meathermac



Category: Dream SMP - Fandom, Minecraft (Video Game)
Genre: Found Family, Gen, Ghostbur, Not RPF, Post-Manberg-Pogtopia War on Dream Team SMP (Video Blogging RPF), Sleepy Bois Inc as Family, THIS IS ABOUT THE CHARACTERS, ghostbur fic, no beta we die like l'manberg, post-Wilbur's Death, sbi as family, stop using the tag with techno's real name
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-23
Updated: 2021-01-23
Packaged: 2021-03-15 19:29:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,415
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28943715
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/meathermac/pseuds/meathermac
Summary: phil, tommy, and techno deal with the aftermath of wilbur's death.
Relationships: Technoblade & TommyInnit & Phil Watson (Video Blogging RPF), Wilbur Soot & Technoblade, Wilbur Soot & Technoblade & TommyInnit & Phil Watson, Wilbur Soot & TommyInnit, Wilbur Soot & TommyInnit & Phil Watson
Comments: 12
Kudos: 45





	it's gonna get really really really really bad before it's okay

**Author's Note:**

> i'm. already writing more sbi fic good gods 
> 
> why does techno's non-rpf tag have his real name???? stop using that tag 2k21 he's super uncomfortable with it
> 
> contains themes typical to the smp and is about dealing with wilbur's death so it gets kinda heavy!!! 
> 
> (title from AJR's 'my play')

"Do you remember how you... died?" Phil asked, head tilted to the side cautiously. 

Wilbur smiles, eyes blank. "I don't remember. Were you there?" 

Phil studies the ghost's face, searching for any signs of recognition. "I… yeah, I was there, Wil." 

Techno raises an eyebrow, tusks curling into a sort of half-smile as he glances to Phil and back to the ghost. "We were all there." 

"That's nice," he says softly. "It's good that you were all with me." 

"Do you remember us?" Tommy asks, voice shaking a bit. 

"Of course I remember you guys." Wilbur smiles again, the same expressionless eyes meeting Tommy's. "You were… you were my family. Right?" 

Phil nods, tears pricking in his eyes. "We  _ are _ your family, Wil." 

"Not  _ really _ ." 

" _ Techno. _ "

"Sorry," he mumbles, hands going unconsciously to the end of his braid. 

"I wish I remembered how I died," he says, floating over to a poster on Techno's wall. "I remember that I was quite sad beforehand. Sad and angry, I think… but mostly sad."

"Sad," Phil echoes. "Do you recall why?"

Wilbur thinks for a second, blinking slowly. "I didn't like myself very much." 

Phil just nods. 

*

Tommy is alone when the ghost returns, sitting on the bank of a river as he tosses rocks into it. Wilbur floats over and sits down next to him before asking, "Were you there when I died as well, Tommy?" 

"Yeah, I said that already," he says, a bit annoyed. "Everyone was there." 

"I remember it." Wilbur stares into the river as Tommy looks at him, shocked. "Not… everything. But I know that--I know who killed me." 

"And you're not--you're not upset?" 

He turns to Tommy, and his usual blank expression instead looks peaceful and calm. "I'm okay with it. I was… I was a bad person, wasn't I, Tommy?" 

"You didn't start out that way," he mumbles. "You were like my brother. We had all these crazy dreams and everything."

"We had a whole city," Wilbur says, smiling softly. "It was beautiful." 

Tommy closes his eyes, resting his head on his knees. "It was." 

A ghostly hand rests on Tommy's shoulder. "But I was angry. And I did bad things. I was a bad brother to you, because you were like me, and I didn't like myself." 

"You weren't--" 

"I was," he interrupts calmly. "And I hurt people." 

Tommy chews at the inside of his lip, stopping when he tastes metal. "I'm sorry, I wish we'd--" 

"Tommy," Wilbur says gently, "you didn't do this to me. I did it. Everything I did… I did that. Please don't blame yourself." 

"You were stabbed by your own--your surrogate father," he mutters, anger seeping into his voice. "You were murdered as the boys you considered basically family fought and--and--and you  _ died _ as your  _ brother _ destroyed the city that you built!" He looks at Wilbur, eyes stinging. "Do you remember that part?" 

"Yes." 

He recoils, staring at the ghost in front of him--the man who said he didn't remember how he died, said he didn't remember any of the bad parts--as he says that yes, he did recall that day. "Even death can't take that one from you, huh?" Tommy snarks. "But you're fine letting your family walk on eggshells around you, trying not to remind you about everything that happened? You're okay letting Phil--letting him live with that memory, never able to move on, so long as you felt a bit better about it?" 

"Tommy--" 

"No, you know what, Wilbur? You  _ were  _ a bad person, and I don't think you changed that much!  _ Fuck you! _ " Tommy screams. "God, I was so hopeful that you'd be  _ Wilbur _ again, but you're the same as you were when you died! My brother's fucking dead, the least he could do is try and be a little less of a manipulative  _ fuck! _ " 

The ghost sighs. "I'm sorry, Tommy." 

"I don't need an apology," he bites back, anger fading almost as quickly as it had come, sadness flooding into its place. "I needed my fucking brother." 

"I wish I could have given you that." 

"Me too," he mumbles, trying desperately not to cry. "Why did you lie to Phil and Techno?" 

He thinks for a second. "It wasn't… totally a lie. I didn't know all the things you said. I knew that Phil killed me. I knew that I asked him to." 

"You didn't remember Techno attacking?" 

"Maybe?" Wilbur says, sounding a bit defeated. "I don't remember very well anymore. It's all quite fuzzy." 

Tommy looks at the ghost beside him and all he feels is a gnawing hole in his chest where there should be contempt and anger and all of the other feelings he  _ should _ be feeling right now towards Wilbur, but he just feels sad. 

"I miss you," Tommy says quietly. "Even after everything you did to me… I still miss my brother." 

The air between them is heavy with stuff they're not saying, fights and apologies and stories they should finish telling, but Tommy feels the ghost of a hug on his shoulders and despite everything, he smiles. 

*

Technoblade doesn't want to talk to Wilbur. He literally cannot think of something he wants to do less than speak to Wilbur--except speak to Tommy, maybe. 

And  _ yet _ , on the day of his "execution", there is a ghost and a blue sheep in the crowd smiling up at him. 

As Techno runs through the sewers, Wilbur floats beside him, chatting away about the sheep he found. He can't ignore him--Wilbur floats faster than he can run, anyway--so he just listens. 

"And I've named him Friend because he's my friend and all that," Wilbur says, and Techno responds with a noncommittal grunt as he sprints away from L'manberg. 

Well, he's  _ trying  _ to get away from L'manberg, but there's a ghost following him who is a constant reminder of why Technoblade hates the government so much. 

“Tommy told me the story of how I died,” Wilbur remarks as if it’s something conversational, like, “oh, the weather is nice today, by the way, I now remember the day you razed a whole city and I was murdered” and tops it all off with this innocent little smile that almost has Techno skidding to a halt like a cartoon character in the middle of the sewers. 

“Bruh.” 

Wilbur giggles as he watches Techno run down the stone pathways, crossbow shots echoing off in the distance. “The way you say that is so funny.” 

“That’s nice, Wilbur. I can’t be arrested by a ghost, right?” he asks, half-joking, but since an orphan just arrested him he couldn’t rule out anything. 

“No, I can’t arrest you,” he says, laughing. “Tommy treats you like his brother.”

Techno sighs. “We’re really having this conversation right now? I’m trying to run away from my execution, Wil.”

Wilbur ignores him and keeps going. “Do you not think he’s your brother? You said we weren’t really family.” 

“We aren’t,” he replies simply. 

“Why not?” 

“‘Cause I’ve done some real bad things and you’ve done some real bad things and Tommy just kinda sucks for a separate reason, but mainly I just don’t think families do real bad things to each other all the time,” Techno says, voice catching on the last phrase. “Maybe I just don’t want to live with the fact that my brother tried to use me as a weapon or that I nearly killed my own brother or that my father stabbed his own son. Easier to live in the reality that we aren’t related than to deal with the fact that we did some really awful things to each other.” 

Wilbur nods contemplatively, going mercifully silent. “Tommy just kinda sucks,” he echoes with another giggle. “He does. He’s loud.” 

“Little bit, yeah,” Techno snorts. “That’s what you took away from that whole rant?”

“I don’t like dealing with reality much either, Technoblade,” Wil says, and then the rest of the way to his new home is devoid of any and all ghosts and blue sheep and it feels--strange. Strange and lonely. 

Whatever. 

*

“It’s all a bit confusing, this whole family thing, Friend,” Wilbur mumbles to the sheep, who ‘baa’s softly in response. “I’m not sure if I like it,” he says, but then he remembers things like Phil’s hugs and talking to Techno and lovingly bullying Tommy and he changes his mind. “No, I like it, Friend. I like it a lot.” 

**Author's Note:**

> uh, you're welcome to follow me on twitter/tiktok [@maplekeenes] or tumblr [@maple-keenes]! leave a comment and kudos if you enjoyed this, i was blown away by the response to my last sbi fic :D


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